I like to discover restaurants that surprise me with their simplicity and the freshness of their cuisine, rather than with their snazzy decor or the way they attract the in crowd. I favour visiting places that offer a selection of small tasting portions, like tapas. And I am always keen to sample a wide range of the world’s flavours in my dining-out fare. With this needs inventory in mind, a friend suggested I try the Biarritz Downtown Montreal. I did. The restaurant, which is easy to miss from the street thanks to a discreet exterior façade, has seats for...

A restaurant with the curious moniker of Projet 67 has recently opened on St. Laurent in the Mile End district. Inspired by the Universal Exhibition of 1967, a landmark event that awakened the taste buds of Quebec to the many flavours of international cuisine, the restaurant is unique to this province. Several small details that hark back to this memorable period are scattered throughout the restaurant, but not exaggerated. A large frame at the back of the restaurant reminds diners of the different countries that make their culinary distinctions known in this great multicultural town. When I got the...

There are precious few quality restaurants where I can bring my own wine in the West Island of Montreal. The restaurant Famiglia & Co is, mercifully, among that limited list.   Located in a small shopping centre, this is a place where you can find all the ingredients for a great night out with friends. The restaurant is simply decorated in brown and white hues, and outfitted with comfortable chairs that seem to beg diners to spend several hours at the table. Among the many special...

Opened just a few months ago, the restaurant caught my attention right off the bat with its very bold name. In Toronto a few years back, I ate at a restaurant called Fiasco! As you can imagine, the place is no longer with us. One of the first things to consider in restaurant marketing, after the location, is its name. Agencies are paid a pretty penny to help devise the best one according to the menu, the atmosphere and so on. The name of this restaurant was obviously chosen because of the food that is served on its premises: comfort...

In December, our small group from the office was looking for a place to go to celebrate the holiday season. After casting about our various options, we settled on the Bistro Sawadika, in St. Laurent. Right off the bat, I have to say that, given the many restaurants next to one another in this neighbourhood, parking directly in front of the Sawadika is hard to find. Still, you'll easily find a spot in the back. And this is really a minor concern, given the experience you’re about to enjoy! Once parked and inside the place, the...

Being that I was already on Rue Saint Denis when the happy hour bell rang, I decided to go to a restaurant where wine is king. My choice, Les Cavistes, literally puts wine in the centre of your dining experience. It's not the kitchen that's open to the sleek and sophisticated honey-coloured dining room at this place - but the wine cellar. That's saying something.   The menu here is simple enough that all diners will find something to their liking. Grilled meats and chicken dishes that are easily associated with many pairings on the wine list lead the pack. Braised cheek,...

Since way back in June, a friend has been urging me to check out this unique new restaurant where you can order a meal for two, for lunch or for dinner, and the whole thing will arrive at your table inside of a wicker picnic basket, complete with dishes, utensils, glasses and even a tablecloth. I agree that it's a little late - and a lot cold - in November for outdoor dining, but I recently determined to visit the restaurant regardless....

The moment I set foot in the Public House, I felt comfortable, at ease. Welcome. It’s a bit like the feeling I have when I visit a friend. The décor has probably got a fair bit to do with this curious wash of warm sentiments I experienced. A long wooden bar, open kitchen and walls lined with old English wallpaper dominate the space. The furniture is made of dark wood and miscellaneous objects are deposited — seemingly without artifice or design — here and there throughout the restaurant. The menu is oddly situated on the back wall. Taken together, the...

For this restaurant review, I veered away from my usual downtown haunts and ventured into a neighbourhood on the southwest of the island known for its collection of modest restaurants. Blackstrap BBQ in Verdun is quite a special place. Just barely opened, this humble eatery is already the talk of the town. The Blackstrap project is the product of Clara Barron and Dylan Kier, a foodie couple that decided to sell the Griffintown Café they’d operated for a few years sot hey might journey into the southern parts of the US to learn the secrets of cooking barbecue. They...

Despite the fact that it's located just minutes from downtown and that the average salary of its residents is among the highest in Canada, the City of Westmount boasts surprisingly few restaurants. The scene was brightened considerably last spring, however, when the chef Antonio Park opened new digs in this upscale neighbourhood.   I count myself among the well informed when it comes to new restaurant openings on the island of Montreal and its surroundings, but this one caught me off guard....

In the middle of downtown Montreal on that August midday, I was hungry and looking to spoil myself. I should go to a restaurant that would be more affordable at lunch than at dinner, I determined. Given that I was within walking distance of the Promenade de la Cathedral, my mind naturally travelled to Giovanni Apollo, a restaurant that had only attracted rave reviews. Further, the place held a certain amount of attraction for me thanks to the sympathetic chef who heads it up, a man who is often on television preparing food for show or competition. With such a...

For this review, we were as keen to sample some seafood as we were to discover a new restaurant that only just recently opened. When you cast your mind around the planet with seafood high on it, it doesn't take long to land in Portugal. There's more, after all, to the cuisine of this country than merely sardines and grilled chicken. When Helena Loureiro, the chef at Portus Calle, opened her eponymous restaurant, the event ranked as one of the most anticipated in the world of Montreal gastronomy....

For this visit to a Montreal restaurant, I will deliver you back to an area where my appreciation for excellent catering first took root: Mile End. I had made the journey this time in response to a simple comment by a friend in appreciation for the donuts there. Sorry, donuts? Yes, he reassured me - but also so much more. And so it was that I found myself at the Café Sardine, just a handful of months after its opening in a space that was formerly occupied by La Montée de Lait....

It dawned on me recently that several months had passed since I’d enjoyed the very particular pleasure that is a brunch. The last time had been at Le Gros Jambon, and the experience, top to bottom, had been delicious. As such, the bar was set very high for the next brunch. From what I’d read and heard about the place (though the discreet establishment appears to exist without benefit of web or Facebook page), The Sparrow seemed an excellent pick for reaching it. It appealed to me that the restaurant was situated in the mile end. I love the...

Coming out of a business meeting in Old Montreal and without much time for lunch, I weighed the balance of my options. There was, of course, no shortage of fast food choices scattered about me, but I was hungry for something better than another burger or slice of pizza. And then it came to me: I could eat a lobster roll at the MuvBox on the docks of the old port. But when I arrived there with my appetite for lobster in hand, I realized that the original MuvBox now has a little brother...

A new restaurant has opened its doors in Old Montreal. Nothing particularly special about that, is there? Two years ago, I would have reflexively thought just that, writing the place off as just another tourist trap to be open throughout the summer during which time it would ruin the gastronomic reputation of the city. But several restaurants have actually opened up over the last year, and Montreal’s gastronomic reputation remains intact....

Whenever I have a hankering for fish and chips in this city, it gives me pause. Where to go for such a specialized dish in Montreal? A British pub? Mommys in Lachine? Peter's Cape Cod in St. Anne de Bellevue? It's a conundrum, I must say, especially after having endured some pretty unhappy experiences in area restaurants with this English staple. But it seems like there may be a turnaround in these parts with the imported “chippy,” a longtime favourite that originated around 1860 in Great Britain....

A new restaurant has just opened at Hotel Saint Paul in Old Montreal, and the news couldn’t be better. Since its unveiling on April 30, the Hambar has rapidly replaced the embers of the vacated Vauvert. The place was taken over by the former sommelier of the Pied de Cochon, Philippe Poitras. Keen to offer a lively, chic and casual restaurant in Old Montreal, Poitras will no doubt succeed with this trendy place that’s popular among the people working in this business district....

I had heard about the opening of Pastaga several months ago and, intrigued, suffered the delay as the restaurant was constructed. When you learn that Martin Juneau and Louis Philippe Breton have reconvened to open a restaurant, after all, your curiosity is going to be piqued. This gastronomic duo has worked  together for at least 15 years in various Montreal kitchens....

From time to time, I crave variety. It is on those occasions that I seek out restaurants whose home cuisine is a bit unusual to my palate. I’m not talking here about anything too wildly outside of the box — simply food that’s neither Italian, French, Japanese nor any other cuisine that is currently à la mode. Understanding this background explains why, when a friend mentioned that “there’s a new kind of bistro that opened on Saint John’s in the West Island,” I replied thus: “Not another bistro.” But that was then and this is now. That was before I...

Le Taj has been renovated and the effort has brightened the whole place — from interior space to the cuisine that’s served within it — meaningfully.  An Indian nosh standby in Montreal for the past 26 years, Le Taj has a reputation for respecting the tradition of Indian cuisine. So a diner should expect to find no remnants of either the little Indian restaurant around the corner or the vast buffets that the concept of conventional Indian eateries have come to summon in the minds of their fans. At least, this is what you’d believe by perusing the menu. ATMOSPHERE...

RESTAURANT STYLE This typical Italian restaurant — where the servers are dressed all in black and the service is always relaxed — is owned and operated by executive chef Emanuel, his wife and his son. In a jungle of restaurants of all kinds, it’s good to find an authentic restaurant that’s not an imitation. DECOR This place boasts some brand new decor throughout, including a simple and elegant front entrance. The stone walls and dark-wood furniture lend the place a warmth that puts guests at ease very quickly. A small, semi-private section of the restaurant is...

It was a weekend morning in February, and I was on the hunt for a place that would serve me one of those excellent big breakfasts. A quick on-line search revealed a promising-sounding restaurant that had only recently opened. It was, it seemed, the kind of diner that would produce a brunch for a man, an establishment that serves up such a hulking first meal of the day that the only reasonable followup to its consumption would be an energetic constitutional in nearby Old Montreal. Le Gros Jambon appeared as though it might just be the perfect place. STYLE OF RESTAURANT...

When a fellow finds himself in or around Lachine at breakfast or lunch time, it’s always a bit of a challenge. For breakfast, I generally go the safe route, and install myself in a chain like Eggsquis or Cora, or skulk into some deli-style restaurant where the array of top-of-the-morning vittles isn’t necessarily the healthiest. Come lunch, you’ll find me just as sheepishly venturing into one or another fast-food joint or tucking into the dubious fare at a buffet-style eatery. But the mealtime narrative in Lachine is poised for change, thanks to a recent gastronomic discovery I’ve made in these...